The Last Day of Mikau
by darkannie
Summary: This is my interpretation of the events that led to Mikau's death in his attempt to save Lulu's eggs, based on the clues scattered about Great Bay coast.
1. Chapter 1

He looked up at the sky for the second time, pain engulfing every single inch of his body; his head swimming with dizziness so that Mikau couldn't comprehend for a moment of where he was or even what he looked at from the flat of his back. The Zoras have very thick skulls. He'd always known that, but somehow this moment reminded him even more of such a fact as he knew without a single doubt that a fall like that would have killed anyone else.

Mikau raised himself into sitting position, the throb somewhat beginning to subside as he gathered his bearings. Slanted eyes, black and shiny as pearls, swept worriedly across the visage of the waterfall, beautiful in its treachery, almost mocking him in its height and antagonism.

Sitting there, he saw that his third attempt to get to the top of it and greet those beavers inside resulted in him on the ground in pain once more. He gotten higher this time; started to believe he would actually make it, but the higher climb just resulted in a greater fall. And though his body ached from the blows, it was his pride that hurt the most. He could be at this all day, the drops getting only the more painful each time. He needed to find a better way.

The Zora came to his feet, feeling the sand beneath him beginning to absorb far too much moisture in his skin. He dusted himself off from the back of the legs and his dorsal fin. Suddenly, he heard from his side,

"What's wrong, Mikau? The waterfall too much for you?"

Kylen stood by his jars, taunting him as always. It never changes. Even when they were adolescents, it was always something with him. Every chance to belittle Mikau and rub his nose in whatever failings he could witness the guitarist endure, even when it came few and far between. If ever he tripped, missed with his double cutters, or bumped his head when propelling through the water onto a surface, Kylen was there to remind Mikau of it, grasping with both fins whatever fragment of imperfection witnessed. Clutching straws perhaps, but clutching all the same.

Mikau squinted hatefully at Kylen before turning his attention to the waterfall. "I was up all night rehearsing with Japas. I'm just beat, is all." That felt like a worthy excuse since it was true. They had even come up with a song together. They wanted more than anything to show the song to Evan, but even the hint that they were trying to create something on the side would have caused far too much tension and argument. So all he could do was write it down in his diary.

"Right," Kylen said before turning to greet the Zora that walked on by. His priorities wouldn't allow him at this moment to put anymore thought into teasing Mikau, as the Carnival of Time was approaching and Kylen planned on opening a market there. Mikau felt relieved that he at least wouldn't have to deal anymore with his hatchling-hood friend's taunting.

"Why don't you just swim up the waterfall, Mikau?"

Mikau turned to the second voice that had just addressed him. It was Ril. He'd been standing there watching the entire thing. Mikau couldn't say _they_ were friends exactly, but they were both close with Evan.

"I can't," Mikau answered, feebly trying to hide his embarrassment. "There's a Like Like at the bottom of the waterfall pool."

Of course he'd considered scaling the waterfall itself, as Zoras were strong enough to swim up any current, but when he'd gotten there, he saw the Like Like waiting for him, it even began to undulate towards him the second it picked up Mikau's essence. It was too far to be able to reach him so long as he remained out of the pool, but Mikau knew that one slip up the waterfall would be the end of him. Like Like loved nothing more than a Zora to snack on. Until then, he had to find another "safer" approach up there. Three falls later, however, and he began to think about taking his chances with the Like Like.

Ril merely shrugged. "So, just use your barrier on it."

"I can't do that either. I need all the energy I can get to even make the swim up the rapids."

Mikau had thought, himself, of using his electric barrier on the Like Like as it had started to ooze towards him, and nearly dived into the pool to do that very thing, but though their barrier was useful to fend off the Like Like, temporarily stunning the creatures to give the Zora enough time to escape, it expended a lot of energy to execute them and Mikau knew he'd have to have all of his energy to make it up the waterfall. It was from that point that he actually tried climbing the cliffs. But he realized all too quickly that Zoras are better swimmers than climbers. His achy back and head were a testament to that.

Then he thought of something. Quickly, Mikau made it back to the waterfall's pool. He looked down, watching the Like Like heaving in anticipation of its meal. The Zora are quite well equipped to handle all of the treachery of the seas, but the Like Like are so eager to eat a Zora that in spite of attack after attack, they still tenaciously slither towards one in the hope of landing it. Slow creatures they were, but it didn't make them any less fearsome to encounter.

Mikau punched the air with his right hand in a quick motion, instantly extending the fins along his arms. They detached like boomerangs and served their own defense purposes. They're known to temporarily freeze the Like Like, though the barrier shield was much more effective, even causing damage to Like Like when successfully executed.

Standing there, his knees knocked and he felt a swirl in the bottom of his guts. From this vantage, Mikau knew his cutters wouldn't make the distance. He knew that the Like Like was much too far away and he needed to be on his feet to throw them. The maneuver was far riskier than his electric barrier, but throwing his fins wouldn't cost him in energy, which was dearer still to make the hard swim up the waterfall.

He swallowed the dry knot that gathered in his throat. _This was for Lulu_. This was for her eggs…

_Their_ eggs.

Evan wasn't supposed to know about Lulu and him. In fact, no one in the band were to ever know. That was their promise together. It was Lulu that wanted it that way and Mikau would give her the moon if he could somehow pluck it from the sky. He'd always loved her, since they were hatchlings swimming around in the nursery tank. But he knew how Japas felt about her too and didn't want to bring about rivalry between them, his friend and partner in the Indigo Gos. So Mikau and Lulu were "best friends," no fraternizing, no secrets between them, no secrets kept from the band. They managed to break all three of those rules.

Evan wouldn't have stood for it. He'd been against Japas admitting his feelings for Lulu. Even when it had been mentioned lightly, almost as a joke.

"No _fraternizing_ between band members!" he'd lamented throughout Zora Hall. "I'm not going to deal with insolent squabbles and headaches and breaking up, getting back together, and all that insipid drama that would more or less affect the band and our music! So fins off, you understand, Japps!"

Mikau wasn't sure what Japas would do about being told off, but he watched it all with a flush in his cheek and cursory glance towards Lulu that she caught. They both felt worried, bleeding that concern through their mutual gazes. However, Japas just chuckled at Evan.

"Chill, fish gills," he replied to Evan calling him by his favorite nickname. "The only one bringing the drama right now is you. You want me to lay off our girl star, that's all aces with me." Then he smiled his usual crooked smile. "I know how much it would break your heart if I left you for someone else."

The rest of the band laughed, even Mikau himself as the red filled Evan's cheeks. Everyone knew that their band leader was oft too serious about everything, and Japas had chuckled lightly to himself again after the band leader left in a huff and went back to his piano where he vented his rages in the form of music. But Mikau could see the disappointment in Japas eyes that even his lightheartedness couldn't hide. Lulu was off-limits.

And it was why she and Mikau had to keep their affair a secret.

Still, Mikau couldn't shake the strange sense that came over him, even making the scales rise on the back of his neck like spindly fingers when Evan came to him this morning, just before the dawn and told him of the disappearance of the eggs, asking Mikau specifically to look for them. He could only stand there dumbfounded, shocked at the words said to him. When did this happen? _How_ did this happen? And most importantly: _Why?_

Words left him in the haze of questions and frantic memory scans that investigated at what way this could have happened and who in Termina would do it. And how long did Evan know about this, and why didn't Lulu talk to _him_ about it! He had every right to know that his own children were in danger. He felt angry at Evan as well, asking himself how long he might've known about this. And Lulu and didn't say anything. If he harbored knowledge of what had been transpiring, why wait till now to mention it? It didn't seem like Evan at all. There was no way he could have known about it and not show it. Evan can't keep anything to himself. His temperament wouldn't _stand _for it.


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn't until the cloud had formed around their sacred temple and the waters had gotten so murky that everything started happening. Lulu's eggs, the vanishing act on her singing voice—and just days before the Carnival of Time. It all came to a boil this morning when Evan entered their room, where he and Japas were doing a jam session until the wee hours, working on the piece that they came up with the night before, secretly wondering if they could get Evan to at least give it a listen when he came into the room.

"The performance at the carnival is going to have to be rescheduled, I'm afraid."

Japas and Mikau exchanged looks when Japas said, "For, like, when?"

"We're going to have to go on at the end, give us more time to rehearse and pull it together. I talked to the mayor's wife about it. She says we'll be the headliners. It's more suited anyway." With that he left the room as if nothing was off, but nonetheless Mikau had an unsettling feeling that swept through him. Headlining was a good thing, so why did Evan sound so… _worried_?

Mikau put his fish bone guitar down and turned to Japas. "Hang out," he said simply enough to his band mate, who returned to his fish bone bass and started strumming again. Mikau caught up with their band leader just as he was heading back towards his own chambers. "What's going on, Evan?" he asked softly, wary of prying eavesdroppers.

"Look, I didn't want to say anything about this with Japps there. I'd rather the band not know about this. I wouldn't be telling you except…"

"What is it?"

Evan sighed, lowering his head before shaking it, as though he debated with himself on whether or not he should continue, or how much he should admit. "We're not headlining, Mikau. The show's canceled."

Mikau's eyes lifted in surprise and confusion. "Canceled? Wh-Why?"

"It's Lulu," Evan answered tentatively. "It appears she's lost her… her voice." He cleared his throat, pausing to search out a new thought. "There's no way we can do a show without her."

Mikau lowered his eyes. They've known about her voice problems for the last couple of days now. That she'd been walking around silently, not saying a word and harboring some deep pain in her eyes that Mikau could sense deep down in his soul. He wasn't sure why he felt a sweep through his blood just then upon Evan's mentioning of it now as if it was something new but only that he could sense that it was somehow far more serious than what Evan was alluding to. There was something in his eyes, shiny and black as they were, that withheld something pensive and much more severe than what they'd been given.

"What's going on? Where's Lulu right now? Is she all right?"

"She's fine for the most part but not great. Mikau, I need to see you in my chamber when you get the chance."

The sweep managed to find his gut and perch there. The tone in his voice left Mikau terribly uneasy. He felt like a hatchling suddenly caught with his fin in the Eyeball Frog jar. He searched his mind for any clues haplessly given between them, the stares, the secret looks, the times they spent together as "friends," the tension they tried to hide from everyone by doing what they could to not be in the same room together… unless it was unavoidable. Like rehearsals and performances. During those times, the interactions were cold and devoid of as much intimacy as possible. Somehow, he felt as if it had been that very thing that had perhaps given them away at long last.

Evan left without further insights, and Mikau knew if he wanted to get the full story he'd have to see to the request, and so, looking around himself to avoid suspicion, as he felt so aware of it within himself that he came off in such a way, he scratched his head and continued in the direction of Evan's room, hiding his perceived guilt as much as he could.

He recited to himself all the reasons why he wouldn't apologize over Lulu and him and believed down in his heart that Evan would come to understand, but Evan was known for his authority and foul temper and Mikau wasn't sure if he'd really be able to stand up to him. His throat felt dry when he went up to the Zora guard at Evan's door.

"Oh, hey, Mikau," he said. "Evan said he needed to see you."

"Yeah." He wanted to say more but that one word seemed sufficient and he drew a blank for anything else. The guard stepped away from the door and Mikau went through, greeted by the soft tapping of the piano keys. This concerned him more. It was the same ominous type of playing that Evan tends to do when he's worried about something. It was as though he wasn't even aware of the keys he played, just tapping one after the other while ruminating the issues silently. This didn't give Mikau any further confidence in how effective his side of the argument would be. He could already feel himself wanting to apologize.

"Evan?"

"Mikau, you're here. Good. There's something I need to talk to you about."

He tried to hide whatever guilt was painted across his face, putting on as stolid a façade as any he could produce.

"Lulu made me promise not to say a word to anyone, especially you, but..."

"What's going on?" Mikau whispered. His stomach was flooded with acid so that his words needed to be said softly and slowly, lest they come riding upon a wave of vomit.

"I know you're aware of the strange dark cloud over the sacred temple."

Mikau nodded. He wasn't sure where Evan was going but felt it necessary not to speak until the point was at last made. Whether or not Evan saw it, he continued:

"And it appears that the Gerudo have settled over by the abandoned bay."

He'd heard of the Gerudo but had never actually seen one. From what he'd been able to gather, they were rogue pirate women that scavenged areas for treasures and followed the rulings of one male that was born in their tribe every 100 or so years. But Mikau had just passed them off as rumors and hatchling stories, never believing that they could exist with only one male in their whole tribe. How did they ever breed in the first place?

But to think, Gerudo… here, in Great Bay Coast. Suddenly he was torn between being bewildered and curious beyond reason to actually get a glimpse of one himself.

"But what does this have to do with Lulu?" Mikau finally asked. He was shocked at himself for asking, certain that he'd given himself away just then as he went in expecting to confront Evan about what had been going on with him and their band's singer, defenses up and swinging, but now that the moment was suddenly staring him in the face, all he could remember was how intimidating Evan could really be.

"It's her eggs," Evan said plainly, no dawdling, no stuttering whatsoever, as if he'd been rehearsing his own remarks before beginning their meeting. "The pirates _stole_ her eggs."

Momentarily, it was as though the room became hazy and suffocating. Silence would have rung like a throb in his ears were it not for the drips of leaking seawater through the cracks in the walls, which kept things moist enough for them once they grew accustomed to the constancy of it.

In a slow whisper as though he no longer had a real voice to enunciate, Mikau said, "Are you sure?"

A simple, lonely C-minor. "I'm sure," replied Evan solemnly.

The intense vibrations in his chest managed to drown out his full thought process. All he could manage was a single image in his head. _Lulu_. She must be devastated. Closed off. Consumed in nothing but her worry and heartbreak.

"When?"

The most mournful D flat to have ever been depressed upon a keyboard. "Two days ago," Evan replied, merely stating the answer with tepid emotion like a robot.

Now he was between confusion and rapidly growing anger at Lulu. _Why didn't she tell me_?


	3. Chapter 3

The band and just about every other Zora knew about Lulu's eggs, but no one ever questioned where they came from, at least not openly. Lulu was never one to talk about herself or expend any sort of secret she had. No one asked, but they all wondered. All but Mikau.

But why Evan told Mikau about them now like it was some inside deal that only they were privy to. That brought the acid back into his stomach. It was _more_ than the eggs, more than Lulu's singing voice. It was becoming frustrating waiting for Evan to dole out his knowledge like this, tap dancing around what he knew… Or how much _of it _he knew. At this point though, Mikau neither knew or cared any longer whom did. His descendants were in danger and his love was closed off from everyone and everything. But still, why him? Why single him out from everyone else and share this information like it's some sort of secret? If he knew, he needed to spill it already and quit wasting time drawing out the tension. _Just say it!_ he thought, on the verge of verbalizing the actual words.

Yet, almost as if he could read some fragment of Mikau's mind, Evan said, "I know you're wondering why I asked you in here instead of talking to the entire band."

_Finally_, Mikau thought, both relieved and tense as the moment of truth was here at last. Evan turned away from the keyboard of the piano that he'd still been tapping at the entire time they'd been in the room together. This caused a sudden dry sensation in Mikau's mouth where he immediately craved the taste of the sea to quench it, halfway between running back into Zora Hall for a soothing dip, and knowing fully well he needed to stay put and suffer through this. On some level, though, it was relieving to finally have the burden of their secret off his shoulders at last, ready for whatever repercussions would come.

"And yes I _do_ know, Mikau. I knew it, even when Lulu finally confessed the entire thing to me yesterday. You'd have to be a blind _fool_ not to have picked up on the two of you... Your _friendship_. And though there are things I want to say to the _both_ of you, I know it's not important right now."

Mikau stood in defiant silence, though his heart buzzed within his chest, reacting to both his excitement and fear, and the realization that there were no more lies to tell and no more excuses left to give.

"But that's not why I'm telling you, Mikau. Truthfully, it's because you have something the other band members don't have. You have the blood of the Zora hero swimming in your veins."

The air left Mikau's second set of lungs in a rush of sibilance that only the constant sound of drips in the chamber could have actually hidden. It was true that somewhere in his bloodline a hero had been born, one whom saved the race of the Zora completely from extinction. He'd even created the magical treasure that rested at the bottom of their sacred temple, though none of the Zoras knew quite what it was and why it was so treasured. Some were unsure if either the artifact or even the hero himself had ever existed.

Before the disappearance of the eggs, however, a strange masked man had wandered up to their hall, taking a boat to the ledge just outside next to a small, uninhabited island merely yards away from it. The island is so small, in fact, that all it had were a few trees that grew atop it. It had been there since before Mikau had even been an egg.

Then he remembered something. That masked man came asking about that treasure yesterday. He'd talked to Japas, asking for someone of authority to speak with. And Japas being the simple Zora that he is just directed him to Evan. Mikau had been writing songs and notes down in his diary when he heard Japas tell the masked man how to find Evan. He jumped down into the pool of water around the percussions and followed him. The door closed before he could see much and wanted to listen in on the conversation but knew there were too many Zoras around to do such a thing.

He went back into the room with Japas and asked, "Who was that weirdo?"

"Just some dude, like, wanting to talk to Evan about the magical junk down in the temple and stuff."

That was all he would gather from the entire event of that day. Only now did he note the strange occurrence between this unusual visitor suddenly showing up and then the eggs disappearing. Maybe he took the eggs as a way of negotiation to get the treasure from them. Even if he had, it was useless because no one knew how to get to it and more so, no Zora has ever stepped flipper in the temple. It was just stories passed down from generation to generation, muddled by time so that no one knew which was truth and which was elaboration. But even if he could somehow make sense of the masked man's motives, the eggs had disappeared before then, taken by those pirate women. To think, this entire time...

"But I'm not a hero, man," Mikau said to Evan, absorbing what was said after getting past the initial surprise of it all. "I'm just a guitar player. It's all I know."

"We've all known your potential, Mikau. You've always had so much more than even you've been aware of. Until this moment, though, you've had no reason to be anything but a guitar player. You've got the chance to be more than that now."

He lowered his head. Sure, he had uncanny accuracy with his cutters, and was a better swimmer and jumper than any Zora he'd ever known. But did that qualify him as a hero? He couldn't see it.

"I don't know, Evan."

"We don't have to time to be back and forth on this. You don't have a choice, Mikau. Whether you're a hero or not, if you don't do something…" He sighed, returning to his piano keys as if the conversation had ended and Mikau thought for a second that perhaps it had, but then Evan continued.

"…things could become a hell of a lot worse for all of us."

Now things had taken a more ominous and mystifying turn. This was certainly beyond Lulu, him, their affair, and the eggs themselves.

"What's going on?"

"No time to get into it. First, you need to see the beaver brothers at the top of the waterfall. They have an empty bottle. You're going to need it to retrieve the eggs from the pirates." He stopped playing for a moment, cocking his head towards Mikau though not looking at him directly. "I have a spy around their fortress. Talk to him, and he'll be able to tell you more. Now go. Hurry! There isn't much time."

Now, as Mikau stood there by the deep and cool waterfall bed, eyes on the Like Like heaving and moaning for him at the bottom, all he could think of were those words. _The bloodline of the hero_. He was expected to achieve something he knew little about, waiting on the deep hidden instincts to reveal themselves, and so far, he's not even gotten to the first part of his mission. Mikau could feel the time draining away. Heaven knows what condition those eggs were even in now. He could feel his descendants needing him and yet could also feel the total ineptitude of his very attempt at being this _hero_ that Evan has decided him to be.

"Some hero," he muttered to himself.

He stood there, at the bottom of the waterfall, watching the Like Like undulating in the broken image of the water, seeing past his own reflection down into the depths of the pool. He knew he'd have to be quick. Well, being quick was definitely one of Mikau's strong suits.

He dived into the water, rushing towards the bottom as the Like Like already began its path towards him. The Like Like had no senses but one, and that was the ability to detect the subtle changes in water, either in temperature, movement, or electric energy given off by all life forms. They were blind, couldn't hear, couldn't smell, but that didn't mean that a being could get around them undetected.

With all of his speed, he swam down into the swirling current, not sure if it was a help or a hindrance. On the one hand, the current helped keep the Like Like centered, perhaps why it was there in the first place, as it had wandered down into the water and became stuck in the central part. It was perseverant, however, struggling against the rush of swirling sea water cooled from the shade of the cliffs above them, ebbing towards Mikau just as he landed on his feet.

Mikau wrapped his arms together locking onto the Like Like and threw his cutters as hard as he could, giving a hard yell for strength, watching as they cut precisely through the water and hit the Like Like, freezing it in its tracks. It turned a cold blue color, indicating that it had been rendered immobile. Mikau would have time to get to the top of the waterfall if he hurried and he knew he couldn't afford a single slip.

He launched to his feet, taking off and swimming with all of his might, but the current of the water hindered his dash and before he realized it, he'd cracked his head on the wall of the pool, jarring him immobile. All of his speed and not bracing for the hit had dazed him and Mikau held his head, suspended and swirling in the current when suddenly he felt his flipper grabbed before being sucked down into the darkness and the burning sensation all over his skin. He'd never been here before, but knew without a doubt that the Like Like had recovered and seized him.

Mikau had no choice, his scales and even the skin beneath them liquefied, and he knew he was being digested alive. He turned his barrier on full blast, immediately ejected from the Like Like and screaming at the salt of the water touching his damaged flesh. He had to hurry as fast as he could now while the Like Like was still stunned, racing up the waterfall and out of the salty pool. He barely even saw where he was going, blindly racing up the hard currents and fighting them with everything he had. But the barrier had taxed his system along with the damage that had been inflicted upon him, and it wasn't until he was facing the entrance to the dam that his muscles felt the pain of their exertion and his knees buckled beneath him.

"I made it. I… I can't believe… I actually made it," he said under labored breath. His second set of lungs were meant only to allow easy transition between land and water, so the surge of inhaling and exhaling caused him pain. He began to wheeze, reaching over and collecting a handful of the falling water from the waterfall and splashing his face with it, then the rest of his body, bathing away the salt from the pool to relieve his burnt skin.

In spite of the pain he suffered in every inch of his being, he chuckled. Mikau wasn't sure why he laughed but only that he couldn't help it. Maybe relief that he was still alive, or maybe he was starting to buy all this hero stuff. Or maybe he just imagined what Lulu would have done if she'd seen the idiot stunt he'd just pulled. Deliberately jumping into a deep, narrow pool with a Like Like. He could just see her anger, see the beautiful way her cheeks would pinken when she was upset. Or the way her lavender eyes would sparkle even while she chided him. The laughter helped ease some of his pain.


	4. Chapter 4

At last, Mikau rose shakily to his flippers. The damage from the digestion was minimal. Only superficial burns. He cleaned up the blood with splashes of water from the fall and went into the entrance of Waterfall Rapids.

The first thing he saw was one of the brothers swimming around, gathering things for the dam's upkeep. Right away he jumped into the water, vainly trying to catch up with the little guy who was much too preoccupied with his work to notice that a hurt Zora needed to have a word with him.

"Hey, I need—Wait a minute, I have something—Could you please hold off on that a minute and…" And so on and so on to no avail. And he was on the verge of giving up 'till he noticed that the beaver was actually heading towards the floor of the pool. Mikau followed him right away 'till he was able to speak to the beaver face to face.

"Well, look at that. I haven't seen a Zora in a long time. What brings you here?"

"I would love to stay and chat, but there's no time for it. I came here because you have something I really need."

"Is that so? Well, what's that, good sir?"

Mikau felt himself being very rude, dropping in on these guys in the middle of working on their dam just to come in and get something from them. And it occurred to him that the beavers may want something in return for it. All he had was his guitar.

"You have empty bottles."

The beaver looked down, suddenly scratching his head. "You want our empty bottle? We can't just give you an empty bottle, you know."

Mikau looked down. It sickened him to do this. It was his prized possession and he loved it dearly, but he knew that it was a sacrifice to be made to save his descendants.

"I'll trade you for it. One empty bottle in exchange for this top of the line fish bone guitar."

The beaver suddenly snickered through his teeth. He looked down, snickering again and again, all while Mikau stood there holding out his most cherished item in offer of a trade.

"What's so funny!"

"And just what're we going to do with something like that? Can you play guitar underwater? Will it stop up our dam? It's a useless piece of junk."

Mikau felt the anger bubbling up in him and was about to tell the beaver off till the beaver said something else.

"I got it! How about we race for it?" He looked suddenly gleeful. "I'm tired of racing my brother all the time and I would love to have a new rival to compete against and it would be a lot of fun to race a Zora!"

"A race?" Mikau said skeptically. "And if I win, I get the bottle?"

"You don't even have to win, you just have to get through it!" Easing up to Mikau, he said as if he were sharing a secret, "We know this area like the back of our tails. It gives us an unfair advantage over you and I hate winning unfairly. Doesn't count the same, y'know?"

"Sure…?" Mikau whispered.

"So alls ya got to do is just keep up with me and swim through all the rings. There are twenty rings in total. You think you're up for it?"

Mikau felt more than up for it. He wouldn't have to trade his guitar to get this bottle and a race seemed better than fighting Like Like. So he nodded and agreed…

But he didn't realize what he'd agreed to. As soon as they were positioned and the race would begin, he saw how small the rings actually were, spinning as they awaited him to go through it. But his ordeal with the Like Like and the barrier he had to execute to save his own life, plus the strenuous swim up the waterfall to get to the brothers, left Mikau weakened and exhausted. He tried desperately to keep up with the fast-swimming beaver, humiliated that he could be bested like this when he'd once been awarded fastest fish in the ocean when he was but a gangly tadpole. With his energy depleted, it left him clumsy, hitting his head on nearly every ring he came in contact with. His strength sapped, his body bruised and burnt, and the blows to the head left Mikau disoriented. It wasn't long before he lost his way, vainly swimming in every direction to find another ring, except when he went through it it didn't spin or disappear. He knew he'd missed a ring but hoped it wouldn't be noticed.

Tenaciously, he gathered his bearings and continued to swim through the still rings till he made it to the underwater nest, the beaver already there and waiting for him to show up.

"You didn't make it in time… _and_ you cheated. You didn't go through all the rings. I know you didn't."

Mikau replied feebly, "S…Sorry. I—"

"We can try again, but I know all the cheats in the book so there's nothing you can slip past me so don't even try it. Would you like another go at it, though?"

Mikau was weakened. Luckily they have those hard skulls, as anything else would have gone into a coma from all the head blows he'd received, but it didn't keep his head and neck from aching because of it. Yet, he couldn't do another race. He didn't have another race in him.

He shook his head.

"You sure?"

Mikau nodded, defeated and humiliated.

The beaver helped him return to the entrance of the waterfall. They seemed friendly at first, but underneath that housed a very mischievous streak. Maybe the beaver knew that Mikau with his wounds and his lethargy would be no match for him, even bending the rules in his favor. And all that song and dance about cheating and evening up the playing odds. Mikau sighed. He just didn't have the energy to be angry.

Somehow he would have to retrieve the eggs without a bottle.

When Mikau left the beaver brothers' dam, bottle-less, he saw he'd have to figure out a way to get back down. But at the moment he was safe and figured that it would give him a chance to think. On the sand, he'd have to deal with Leever; in the ocean, Like Like and Skull Fish, named such because their skin and organs were so transparent in the water that all that could be seen were their bones. They were vicious little devils but easy enough to avoid if he paid attention to the clicking sounds they made before attacking. Like Like were fearsome but easy enough to avoid in large environments.

Up here on this ledge, however, he had no dangers awaiting him, and Mikau needed a plan before attempting his next feat of incompetence.

This all centered around one thing: the eggs, the masked man, even the pirates. And that seemed to be the treasure at the bottom of the Zora's sacred temple. He had no idea what it was but felt that it must be extremely valuable that both the masked man and the Gerudo would go through so much trouble to get their hands on it. But the strangest part? Why now? Why so soon before the Carnival of Time? Maybe it was all a coincidence or it has to do with their song or with Lulu. None of it made sense to him.

But what made even less sense was why he'd had to learn about these things through Evan. That two days ago, those eggs were stolen and he had no idea and just a sick knot in his belly to go by brought on by her strange detachment from everyone—especially him. He'd tried to get her to talk to him, entering her room as she sat there jotting down in her diary, stained with drops of tears as she wrote. But none of his begging, none of his prodding and even none of his angry demanding would get a single word out of her. She'd turn to him, aware that each thing had been heard, received and understood, but would do nothing more than bow her head and return to her dairy, pencil in hand, shutting Mikau out, all while her eyes were filled with remorse and knowledge that she withheld from not only the band but _him_ as well.

And as deeply as that had cut him… to know of all Zoras, she told _Evan_ about it first! So angry was he, that soon after Evan had told him what he needed to do, Mikau stormed out to find and confront Lulu about these things, determined to get the truth from her, by her own admission, but not to let her know that he already knew. He wanted to get the truth from her that had been meant for him first and foremost all along. She owed him that much. And he didn't want to betray Evan either.

Whether it was her stubbornness finally retreating or if he finally wore her down, or that she felt she could no longer keep it from him, she confessed in her silence the only way she could. With watery eyes, she pulled her diary from the locked dresser she hid it in, opened it to the necessary page and handed the open book to Mikau. Such an intimate vulnerability and sacrifice left him feeling remorseful for his anger, more so when he read the painful words she'd been unable to speak even to that moment.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

She bowed her head. Her silence revealed her answer. It was her shame that muted her, because she couldn't save them, because they'd already began to look piqued by the time they'd been taken. Perhaps if they'd been healthier, or if she'd brought them to Marine Research Lab sooner…

"This was two days ago, Lulu," Mikau went on. "We're not even sure if they're still alive."

He wished he'd _thought _before saying such a cruel thing, watching as such a brutal truth crushed the remainder of her spirit. So shattered was she, that the tears left her, leaving nothing but a vapid shell behind those once shimmering lilac eyes that held such fight and courage. Even though she'd been silent before. Now… she was simply gone.

At that, he laid the book back on the dresser, opened to its most recently logged page and put his hands on her shoulders, lifted her chin gently and said, "Please don't lose hope, Lulu. I'm going to get them back, you mark my words."

Then he left her there.

Mikau looked at the setting of the sun. It was still morning. He couldn't believe it. It seemed as though he'd been attempting to get up to Waterfall Rapids all day. He was so tired and there was still so much of the day ahead of him. It left him seriously questioning whether he could get through it or not. At the moment, it was like staring at a mountain from the bottom and knowing that his life depended on reaching the top. But it wasn't _his_ life. It was the lives of his children that depended on this.

The abandoned bay that Evan spoke of. It started off as a large pool of sea water but had now become a fortress surrounded by mile-high walls for which no obvious entrance could be detected. The walls themselves were smooth so that not a single foothold could be achieved. And him with flippers and clumsy webbed hands that were meant only for speedy swimming, but were useless in climbing even under the best conditions.

He suddenly shut his eyes as if to block out his own thoughts, countering his defeatism with reminders of what Evan had told him before he left. There was a spy, another Zora like himself. He might know of a better access to the fortress. He had to.


	5. Chapter 5

Mikau stood up, looking down and seeing that the only place he could land safely was in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall, and yes, the Like Like was _still_ there. But Mikau figured the Like Like was unaware of him right now where he was and could jump into the water and make it out before the thing got to him. And there wasn't an alternative. He sighed, shutting his eyes and reciting a Prayer to Lord Jabu and leaped. The air chilled his still moist skin as he cut through the currents before being warmed by the splash. He hurried to the edge where he climbed out just as he felt the Like Like graze his flippers. They don't swim, but they can stretch out their tubular bodies and reach pretty far.

He looked out across Great Bay and saw the Marine Research Laboratory that sat atop the deck in the middle of the shore. It was where Lulu planned to take the eggs to have them checked out. It was an observatory, he knew that much, but the scientist inside kept mostly to himself. Still, he might know something about what's going on with Great Bay at best and might lend some information about those illusive pirate women. So with that, Mikau headed towards the beach where the deck was stationed yards from the shore. Just as he began making his way towards the beach, Leever began popping up. These creatures nested in the sand. They have whole colonies that live in these underground burrows all along the beach. They live off shells and whatever dead fragments get washed up from the sea and don't necessarily eat Zora—that is, living Zora, but they perceive any creature walking across their nest as a threat, reacting from the vibrations on the ground.

Scout Leevers are then sent out to attack. Usually they retreat upon the first assault, but when enough were killed, the larger soldier leever would emerge next. They were far more aggressive and dangerous, not being so easy to retreat and even increasing in size when attacked. And the worst part was no one can really avoid stepping on leever nests since they can be anywhere at anytime. But these creatures weren't deadly. They were just a nuisance.

And as it was, a leever shot up from the ground, ready to do away with the would-be threat they perceived Mikau to be. But he wasn't going to fight them. The scouts were nothing and a few well-timed dodges were enough to elude them. But he'd never encountered a soldier leever and didn't have the strength to attempt one now. All he wanted was to make it to the safety of the water.

But being hurt and weakened did nothing for his effectiveness in dodging the scouts and they came at him, stabbing Mikau with their cactus-like needles and spikes. Painful, but not life-threatening. Still, he raced through them, using the timing and skills he'd learned from his martial arts training. Techniques he'd studied most of his life. They were skills that had been his family's legacy. Mikau never understood why he were to learn these things other than just keeping up with tradition, but now he felt the most grateful for them.

At last he made it to the surf, seeing the laboratory in plain view. It would be an easy swim as this part of the ocean wasn't particularly dangerous. The reef, however, was more dangerous than the shore as it was littered with Like Like and skull fish. The Zoras protected themselves from these dangers by constructing Zora Hall, thinking that the very threats they surrounded themselves with would actually aid in protecting them from outsiders.

He dashed through the shore, arriving to the lower part of the deck in almost no time at all. He saw that a Like Like had settled just beneath the deck, but there was ample space to avoid it and Mikau need not even climb onto the deck, rushing through the water towards the surface with enough speed to break into the air, landing safely onto the pier.

The first thing Mikau noticed when he made it to the deck was the strange carven statue placed right at the edge of the plank. He inspected it. It was an owl in the resting position, looking as though it slept. Inscribed were some strange words:

_Ye who hold the sacred sword,  
leave proof of our encounter._

It puzzled Mikau. What did that mean? "Weird statue," he muttered to himself before spotting the ladder in front of him and taking to it. Gulls soared high around the laboratory and looking up, Mikau noticed a strange, small man, dressed in green floating high above it on an orange balloon.

"Heeeey!" he called out, cupping his mouth to amplify the sound. Mikau waited but no response came. Apparently, he was much too involved in his… whatever it was he was doing to respond or show he was aware of anyone at all. Mikau shrugged, feeling inexplicably compelled to pop this little man's balloon but decided against it. It was but a fleeting, mischievous impulse, childlike in a way. Mikau, instead, just carried on with his mission, spotting the door and going inside.

Upon entering, he was met with an eerie, surrealistic room lit by the reflections of water from a tank that took up at least a quarter of the room's full space. Another tank housed two very large and rare fish. Perhaps the scientist was studying them.

As Mikau approached, he noticed that for its size, the tank that took up the most space in the building was actually completely empty save for the water. As he stepped closer for further inspection, the small and unusual-looking researcher turned around in a start. He'd been engrossed in something over by the tank, muttering softly to himself about the temperature of the water and the perfect Ph-balance or salt level. So that when he turned around, his start actually made Mikau jump a bit himself.

"Oh my, a Zora! You have to excuse me, I was concentrating so hard on this that I didn't notice you enter. How can I help you?"

Mikau wasn't sure where to start, so he said the first thing that came to mind. "My name is Mikau, and I'm a guitarist in the band the Indigo Gos."

"Ah yes. Ballad of the Windfish. Wonderful song. I hear you're to perform at the Carnival of Time?"

Mikau lowered his head. "Well, we were. We've had to cancel the show."

"Oh, goodness. May I ask why?"

As it turned out, Mikau's impulse paid off, allowing him the opening needed to go into his story without wasting time on small talk and beginnings. As he explained his plight to the laboratory researcher, the man became more and more involved, sympathizing with poor Mikau and Lulu, as well and the band itself.

"Truthfully, I came here myself to research what had happened recently at Great Bay Coast, with the water growing strangely murky and the appearance of the Gerudo Pirates by the abandoned bayou. I would love to help you in any way I can." He put his finger to his chin. "I know! Bring the eggs to me. I will keep them safe in this tank as it has been treated and conditioned as the perfect nursery for Zora hatchlings. And I've so very much wanted to see Zora eggs hatch myself. I was going to try and find some on my own and hatch them in this tank, but I see now that I can serve two purposes! This is the sort of opportunity a scientist like me only dreams of."

Mikau felt reassured of himself, seeing that he'd made a good choice in coming to this laboratory and so he agreed.

"What do you know about the Gerudo?"

The scientist paused a moment to think. "From what I've been able to gather, they wanted the eggs for the purpose of keeping the Zoras distracted from guarding the temple. They want the treasure in your temple."

Mikau felt his face burning in anger. Endangering his children for nothing more than some side commotion.

"So they're still alive?"

"Yes. But I fear it won't remain that way for much longer. The eggs are not in the best of conditions and if they're separated for too long, they won't survive."

"They have to be together to hatch."

"And I'm afraid they're not and the Gerudo know nothing about their frailty. They're not like fish you can just toss into a tank."

Mikau didn't want to hear another dreadful word about the danger his children were in as all it did was cloud his mind in hatred and worry and he needed to focus all of his energy into getting them back.

"How do I get into their fortress?"

The scientist sighed. "That, I can't tell you. The most I know is they have an underwater entrance, but I know not the exact location of it. However," he added with a hint of optimism, "there's another Zora out by the bay who's been scouting the area since before dawn. He might know where to locate the entrance. Mikau, do you have an empty bottle?"

Mikau felt a flush to his face and a sinking in his chest. He swallowed, darting his eyes quickly to the left and away from the scientist staring and awaiting his response.

"Of-Of course I do."

"You'll need it to keep the eggs safe during their travel from the fortress to this tank. If you have more than one, that'll be even better, but one will be well enough if you're swift. And, Mikau. Stealth is very important. Don't go in fighting the Gerudo as there's far too many for you to defend yourself against. Just try to get around them without being seen. I know you can do it."

The reassurance that Mikau felt earlier now slipped away in his latest reality check. Things were looking much too arduous. He needed a bottle but the Beavers, even if he did somehow win, seemed unwilling to relinquish their _precious_ piece of rendered glass. He could see himself trying, going through that difficulty, wasting time, only to be told that they had no intention of ever giving it to him in the first place. They were just mischievous little creatures out to get their amusements wherever they could. And time was much too valuable to be wasted on insolence.

Mikau desperately wanted to ask the professor if he had a spare bottle, thinking that he could only borrow it long enough to save the eggs and then return it if the professor couldn't see fit to part with it for good. Besides, after that, Mikau wouldn't have further use for it. Not really.

But as if the scientist could read Mikau's mind, perhaps seeing the worry and concentration etched onto his features, he asked, "May I see your bottle?"

"Why?" Mikau said, perhaps too defensively.

"I want to make sure it's a good size, and sturdy enough for the cargo."

Mikau knew the jig was up then and could not excuse himself or find another lie, and he also knew his pride wasn't going to save his children.

"…You don't really have one, do you?" the scientist said, reacting to Mikau's delayed response.

Mikau lowered his head.

"I have one you can use, but please do be careful with it. If something happens to it, there's not another I can loan you."

"I understand," Mikau said, suddenly grateful he'd told the truth after all. With nothing else but his gratitude, the Zora left the research lab, facing out into the waters and into the direction of the pirates' fortress. From this position and angle, the fortress was completely visible. He saw that it was stationed up around dangerous waters. Granted, that though the area was actually less dangerous than the reef, it had its dangers all the same. It swarmed with Like Like. The good news was that there was lots of room to avoid them and most move even slower out of the water. But he couldn't afford to dawdle. He had to find them soon. The words of the researcher left a dread down into his soul, even asking himself if perhaps the information came too late. What might have held true before was no longer the situation now.

"No!" Mikau whispered to himself sternly. "They're safe. I know they are." He looked at his arms, aware of the rush of blood through his visible veins by how rapidly his heart was beating. He was scared. He only knew through hearsay how dangerous these women were. He knew little else. Until now, he never really believed they even existed. He watched his veins, remembering what Evan told him. The blood of the heros. It was difficult to believe, but right now it was something he _needed_ to believe.


	6. Chapter 6

Diving headfirst, Mikau cut through the water with hardly a splash, already yards away from the Like Like that barely posed a threat to the Zora. He swam with the speed and grace of a dolphin through the ocean, coming towards Pinnacle Rock where he saw another Zora swimming around there. Perhaps this is the one that Evan sent to check out the Gerudo. So he swam up to the Zora whom greeted him right away as though he'd been waiting on Mikau,

"Hey are you trying to reach Pinnacle Rock?"

Mikau shook his head. "Why?"

The Zora looked disappointed. "Oh… No reason I guess. I wanted to see if you maybe had… But it's not important."

"I'm actually trying to get into that fortress over there." He pointed in the direction of the Gerudo.

"Wow, really? That's kind of dangerous isn't it?"

"Do you know how to get in?"

The zora looked down and finally shook his head. "Not in the least… But hey, I saw another Zora around there, swimming and checking the place out. You should talk to him about it. I think he's over by the rocks."

Mikau nodded and started in the direction pointed out to him, but he was halted for a moment as the Zora added something else.

"Oh, hey, when you talk to him, find out if he knows where the gold-colored fish are right now… If you get the chance, that is."

"Uh… right," Mikau replied and turned in that direction again, heading out towards the rocks where he noticed indeed that another Zora was swimming out there. It was Halibut. Mikau was intrigued by this that Evan would send Halibut out there to investigate the Gerudo definitely someone he knew and another close friend of Evan's. And when Mikau drew near enough, he surfaced as though he'd been expected in spite of the surprise on Halibut's face.

"Mikau?"

Right away, Mikau searched his thoughts for a response to the question that was certainly to be presented to him, but before he could devise an explanation, Halibut asked, "What you doing out here?"

"Evan sent me," he replied.

"Oh, yeah? That's so weird because he sent me out here, too. Said there's these pirate women behind this giant wall. Did you know that? I've always heard about them but I ain't ever seen one. But there's this guy over by the bait shop just a ways from here. He swears he'd had a picture of a Gerudo but he doesn't have it anymore. He said he'd pay someone anything if they had a picture, so I've been trying to get in and take one."

It wasn't unlike Halibut to ramble when he was excited about something. He was like an adolescent that way. Mikau still managed to get the gist of what had been said though and asked, "What do you know about them?"

"Not much," Halibut replied. "But that guy over at the bait shop knows more than I do about them so ask him stuff. I just want to get a picture of them since he's so eager to have one and all. He's also got a golden sea horse too but he's not giving that up as he says he wants to present it at the Carnival and all, but I don't really need anything like that so I don't care what he does with it."

Mikau _was_ tempted, after all, but the swim seemed far and he was tired already from the rest of the day's toll on him, and figured that everything he needed to know he already knew and it was enough. He had no good reason to waste more time seeking out information when it was quite possible he'd learned everything there was to learn about these women.

"I'm not going to worry about that right now." He looked down in thought. "But did you maybe find a way in?"

Halibut shook his head. "I've been trying all morning. It's become this _thing_ now, it's like I didn't even care about it that much before but since it's got so hard to get in, it's like I _have_ to do this now. I mean, you know me, Mikau. I don't back down from a challenge."

Mikau had some blurry recollection of times when Halibut had been dared some stupid, trivial, albeit dangerous exertion that had gotten him nearly killed more than just a few times, so agreed silently on what Halibut said, if not thinking more along the lines of "Not having any common sense." Which is why it surprised him that Evan had sent Halibut out here to investigate these women. On the one hand it seemed like a poor choice, but on the other hand, Halibut was probably the only Zora stupid and crazy enough to try it.

The only _other_ Zora, that is.

He remembered about the professor saying there was supposedly an underwater entrance. That would certainly be convenient and wondered if it was perhaps too good to be true, but saw that at the least he should investigate.

Mikau excused himself from Halibut who himself slipped beneath the water. Mikau wasn't sure where he was going except that he seemed to be heading in the direction of Pinnacle Rock. Another example of his wild (stupid) streak since the water there had been most especially murky lately. Still, he carried on, not wanting to cloud his mind with the strange behaviors of other Zoras.

Swimming around the area he started in turned up nothing even remotely leading to some sort of entrance. He went up and down both ways, all angles, and even feeling around the surface for some sort of faux concealment that would give way to an entrance, but nothing doing. Wherever it was, it was quite well hidden. But then he had a thought as his head surfaced and he looked up. The fortress wrapped around an entire area, not just here. He saw that it also lay around that area with all the pillars, the area that the Zora use the most for fishing since it's an open place with few enemies and a place where the fish gathered to eat and breed. But food wasn't on Mikau's mind as he headed in that direction.

It was a wide-opened area next to the shore where it and the beach were separated only by a small peninsula. The water that entered here was not affected by tide and was allowed to pool together, lying still and deep, teeming with various fish. About the wall of land that rose above the water were shallow pools that fish swam around in. It was believed these pools were for breeding purposes since it meant that they could perform mating rituals unmolested by wandering predators, but it also made for easy fishing by the Zoras.

In the deepest part of the water sat high pillars that had been shaped by the coming and going of the tide in this part of the ocean. Flooding that would get high enough to cover the pillars as they are now, then the tide resting from having nothing to draw it back out again, allowing sediment to pack layer upon layer. Over time as the area had fluxuated from shallow to deep to shallow carving out the softer part of the rock, the pillars were shaped, the various colors of every layer like a physical timeline of the history of this ocean.

It was over by these pillars that Mikau at last spotted what he'd been looking for. It wasn't very obvious, as shadows nearly concealed it perfectly and the darkness within acted as a shadow itself. But he'd found it. A square-shaped tunnel that he could only assume led straight into the fortress of the Gerudo pirates.

This was it. All or nothing. He felt scared and unsure of himself, fueling his anger with recollection of the entire morning. Evan, Lulu, the pirates stealing the eggs, the beavers and their selfishness, Like Like and leever both. He felt tired. He was injured, humiliated and up until this moment he'd been a complete failure who just got lucky a few times. And the only thing standing between him and saving his children was his own damned fear.

He clutched the bottle that was tied to his belt by a bit of cloth so that he could swim without having to hold it. He'd have to rescue his seven eggs with only a single bottle, going from the fortress to the lab and to the fortress again and again… and again. Stealth would be hard enough the first time, but to have to sneak in each time? He couldn't do it. It was wearisome to even imagine it. And what if he made it out with one egg only to come back and discover the pirates waiting for him, realizing while he was transferring the egg to the tank that one of those eggs was gone and so ambush him upon his return? Even worse, what if they decide to destroy the rest of his eggs to prevent him from taking the remainder of them? Could he risk it? _Should _he risk it?

And he thought of something else. He was going into this empty-handed too. No weapon, no defenses, and barely any strength. He held the bottle in his hand, watching it with a terrifying thought that somehow became more and more lucid as it echoed inside his head. Standing before the black tunnel, he held his gaze to the bottle, merely whispering to himself,

"They're just women. How strong could they be? I'm a master of martial arts, I have the hero's blood in my veins. I can take them, I know I can."

He clutched the bottle, shut his eyes and took a deep breath and smashed it across the rock, leaving behind the wide neck which he clutched. It was no longer useable as a bottle, but would now have to do as a weapon. If he pulls this off, he won't need the bottle anyway.

Mikau repeated Evan's words in his mind, playing them over and over like a tape recording to give himself courage. _The blood of the hero swims in your veins._

"Whatever happens, Lulu," he whispered to himself but saying it as if she were actually listening, "I'll always love you."

But though she wasn't there… somehow, he felt that she knew that.

The End


End file.
